Think from KERA

As a West Point graduate with tours of Iraq and Afghanistan under his belt, Maj. Danny Sjursen has been a frequent critic of the global war on terror. Still, he says it’s difficult to think that anyone in the White House on Sept. 12, 2001, would have followed a different path. He talks about the past 16 years through the clarity of hindsight, which he writes about for The Nation.

Machines are becoming increasingly accurate in everything from facial recognition to diagnosing cancer. And while these are all technological marvels, it puts the humans who created them in the difficult position of accepting results without truly understanding how they were achieved. Cliff Kuang talks about problems that arise when artificial intelligence outpaces human understanding. His story “Can A.I. be Taught to Explain Itself?” appears in The New York Times magazine.

Reza Aslan made headlines in 2013 with his book “Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth.” He joins us to talk about his latest work of religious scholarship, “God: A Human History” (Random House), in which Aslan digs into the historical desire to humanize the divine.

Most of us don’t feel a real familial connection beyond the first few branches of our family trees. A.J. Jacobs, however, has been on a three-year quest to grow the branches of his tree as far and wide as possible. He talks about traveling the world to connect the dots of his far-flung tribe, which he writes about in “It’s All Relative: Adventures Up and Down the World’s Family Tree” (Simon & Schuster).

It seems each day brings news of another well-known man brought down by allegations of his own sexual misconduct. And at the heart of this current wave are questions about why these powerful men don’t respect the women they are in contact with. Psychologist Darcy Lockman joins us to talk about the role parents play in how boys value women, which she wrote about recently for the Washington Post.

When it comes to dealing with adversity, many of us keep a stiff upper lip and soldier on. When we hold those experiences inside, though, we miss out on an opportunity to heal. Clinical psychologist Meg Jay joins us to tell the stories of well-known people who’ve overcome adversity – and to talk about what everyday people can learn from those stories. Jay’s new book is called “Supernormal: The Untold Story of Adversity and Resilience” (Twelve).

Andrew Anglin operates the world’s largest neo-Nazi website, The Daily Stormer. His life wasn’t always filled with hate, though. Luke O’Brien joins us to track how Anglin morphed from an antiracist vegan into one of the leading voices of the alt-right. His story “The Making of an American Nazi” appears in The Atlantic.

As a literature professor, Daniel Mendelsohn teaches the classics. And when his father, Jay, signed up for a class, it provided an opportunity for Daniel to get to know his dad through the works they would explore together. Daniel Mendelsohn joins us to talk about how books can teach us about those closest to us, which he writes about in his new memoir, “An Odyssey: A Father, a Son and an Epic” (Knopf). He speaks tonight at DMA Arts and Letters Live.

One of the biggest challenges doctors face is caring for patients with whom they can’t communicate. Science writer Christof Koch joins us for a conversation about how researchers are hopeful that they can soon measure consciousness by zapping the brain with magnetic pulses. His story “How to Make a Consciousness Meter” appears in Scientific American.

One of the biggest challenges doctors face is caring for patients with whom they can’t communicate. Science writer Christof Koch joins us for a conversation about how researchers are hopeful that they can soon measure consciousness by zapping the brain with magnetic pulses. His story “How to Make a Consciousness Meter” appears in Scientific American.